10 Reasons Why You Should Take Your Kids To
Costa Rica!
Costa Rica may be small, but it is jam-packed with high-adrenaline family fun, furry animal friends, colorful birds and cool teeny-tiny dart frogs. Costa Rica is one of the most bio-diverse places on the planet! A mountainous terrain with volcanoes, rivers, lakes, rainforests, cloud forests and dry forests to costal sandy beaches and mangroves. Home to many different animals such as sloths, monkeys, Baird’s Tapir, three kinds of anteaters and tons of cool animal species! Here is our top 10 list of Why you should bring your kids to Costa Rica!
1. Sloths, Sloths, and more SLOTHS!
Sloths are the number one animal that families come to Costa Rica to see and we promise you´ll see one on your family vacation. Sloths can be found high in the canopy of cecropia trees or slowly lowering themselves down tree trunks on an adventure to find leafy green leaves to munch on. These furry animals are an ecosystem within themselves and magnificent to see in action. Your kids will be amazed by the important role sloths play in the jungle playground. Kids love learning facts about sloths and what better country to do it than Costa Rica! Kids will become super sloth spotters within a few days, watch in awe as you search along with your kids to spot sloths in their natural habitat!
Kids love learning about Sloths
2. Kids LOVE the challenge of learning SURF!
Catch waves in the pristine warm waters of Costa Rica´s Pacific Coast. Your kids will be up in no time with the help of Costa Rica´s finest local surf gurus, surfing in less than an hour or they will refund your money. Kids will be thrilled to be surfing the waves and learning new skills! Now, for parents, it may take a little longer to get the hang of it than your kids, but if you want to take a lesson, cowabunga, everything is possible, your in Costa Rica! Most families find this to be a great shared experience for the whole family. Your kids will eat dinner without complaint and be completely tuckered out and ready to hit the sack early. Bonus for the parents while on vacation.
Kids love the challenge of learning to surf!
3. Kids love to zoom over the jungle canopy!
Zip-line Tree Top Canopy Tour, Whee! Soaring from tree to tree on sturdy cables is one of the most exciting adventures for kids in Costa Rica, especially for kids that want to fly! For young or timid kids there´s an option to go in tandem with an experienced family canopy guide. And the more extroverted kids who want to get a little zany can zip along upside down or do the “look ma, no hands” superman pose when zipping tandem with a guide. Your kids will experience pure joy as they travel from platform to platform looking for monkeys and birds along the way. See the smiles on your family members’ faces as they zip and zoom along the cables.
Kids love to zoom over the jungle canopy
4. Family-friendly Waterfall Rapelling Adventures.
Waterfall Repel with your kids down waterfalls while on a Family Canyoning Tour. What could be more fun than learning to rappel down the side of a canyon with a refreshing waterfall keeping you cool? We bet this vacation memory will be shared with friends and family for years to come! This tour includes a hike through the tropical jungle as your repel down waterfalls, splash into the “Monkey Drop” and get soaked by cascading waterfalls. Wait, what´s the Monkey Drop, you ask? Let your kids go first on this one, they are the experts of splash zone fun! With guides who pull out surprises, your family is sure to find this experience one of the highlights of their trip.
Adventurous kids love waterfall repelling
5. Best Family Friendly White Water Rafting.
White Water Rafting with Wave Expeditions, is a wet and wild family adventure. This is a great way to teach your kids about white water rafting, river safety, and working as a team. It takes grit and heart to paddle your way through thrilling, white-water rapids. River guides flip the rafts onto the bank during the break and this makeshift table is quickly put to use to serve tasty fresh fruit snacks while you and your kids jump off the river bank into the invigorating water. At the end of the tour, there is plenty to celebrate with “high-five” paddle slaps all around for the guide and crew. Bond-building and strengthening – the family that rafts together, stays together!
Kids love splashing through the rapids white water rafting
6. Explore the Ocean while fishing!
Fish On! Costa Rica’s oceans are bustling with life! With more than 80 current IFGA world records, it is really hard to get skunked. It’s a whole lot more fun for kids when they are catching something, and boy is there a lot to catch. Along the Pacific coast you can angle for rooster fish, tuna, wahoo, dorado (mahi-mahi) and billfish (marlin, sailfish and swordfish). On the northern Atlantic coast record-setting tarpon fishing is the game, and there is some pretty good snook fishing to be found too. If you are in Arenal, you can catch machaca and guapote – a bump-head bass. Throw out a line and see what you catch while you are in CR!
Kids love exploring the ocean
7. Dolphins, turtles, and whale watching.
Whale Watching, Snorkeling, Scuba Diving galore! As you ride along the coast, you will see Costa Rica from a vantage point you just can’t get on land. Spinner dolphins love to leap and frolic in the wake behind boats. If you like whales – and who doesn’t – there are two migrations of humpback whales that come to Costa Rica to breed and give birth to their young along the Pacific Coast (Jan-Feb and July-Aug). If your kid is at least 10 years old, they can learn to Scuba Dive. There is a one day, Discover Scuba Diving (DSD) experience if you have never tried diving and want to check it out. With tons of shallow dive sites and year-round diving conditions along the Pacific Coast, it is easy and fun to complete their Open Water Diver scuba diving certification. Kids will see massive schools of grunts, tons of eagle rays, puffer fish, eels, and lots of other critters.
Kids love Catamaran Sail and Snorkel
8. Turtle Wildlife encounter!
Turtles, Turtles, Turtles From November to August there are many spots around Costa Rica where you and your family can have a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see turtles lumber up the beach to nest with each female turtle laying 300-400 eggs! It is a lot of hard work for the turtles, but easy for you to join one of the park rangers in a small group and witness this up close. It is a moving encounter that families will never forget. Turtle hatchlings can be seen in later months working their way back to the ocean under the light of the full moon. Turtles return to the same beaches year after year, it is definitely something all families should try to experience.
Kids love being up close with wildlife
9. Magical Waterfalls.
Hiking to a Celestial Blue River Never has I ever!!!! You and your family will say when they hike to the Rio Celeste and see this ethereal sky blue water for yourselves. It is like being in a dream when you see this unbelievably beautiful shade of blue water. Families can hike the national park with a guide to view the incredible wildlife and learn about various flora and fauna. After your family hike through breathtakingly gorgeous scenery, you can swim at the base of the waterfall. The kids can splash around in the celestial blue river that flows from the waterfall while the parents enjoy a relaxing soak in this mineral-rich river.
Kids love swimming in the celestial blue water.
10. Family Cloud Forest adventure!
Cloud Forests & Hummingbird Gardens Costa Rica has some amazing cloud forests, and Monteverde is one of the best. You and your family can do an easy hike in the Cloud Forest Preserve with an experienced birding guide who will show you some amazing birds through his high-powered spotting scope. Why go with a guide? Well, you probably don’t know where the birds nest, the sound of their song or which trees bear the fruits they like to eat. One of the birds residing here is considered the most beautiful bird in the world – the Resplendent Quetzal – with an emerald green head, enormous garnet breast and fine, long plumage. Without a guide, you might miss this amazing site, even though it is directly over your head! There are also self-guided trails along the Continental Divide – and while it is not often clear enough to see this view (after all it is in the Cloud Forest) – there are days when you can see both coasts after reaching the top. Hummingbird Gardens house dozens of feeders, and if the kids stand very still, these exquisite little birds will flit and fly all around you. Videos of your kids doing this is priceless!
Kids love seeing colored birds in the cloud forest
Have we convinced you yet?
We hope that answer is YES! These are our top ten reasons why you should bring your kids to Costa Rica! Our family destination experts are ready to customize your family vacation, click here to start planning!
